November 10 Staff Forum Recap

A staff forum was held on November 10 via Zoom. Shari Stier (HR) welcomed attendees and thanked everyone for their work during this challenging time. She introduced President Pelton, who gave some introductory remarks. He also expressed gratitude for staff’s hard work, saying that the College’s accomplishments this semester have been due to the community’s shared hope and commitment to making the semester a success.

He noted that the College has provided over 40,000 COVID tests to Emerson community members so far this semester, and the positivity rate has been below 1/10 of 1 percent the past few weeks. Over 1,800 new students arrived to campus this fall, including new first-time undergrads, students in our Global BFA with Paris College of Art, transfer students, and students from Marlboro College. The College also welcomed over 300 new graduate students and over 330 new graduate students in our online Speech@Emerson and Digital Marketing and Data Analytics programs.

Graduate programs are thriving, nearly doubling their previous enrollment. Eighty-two percent of students are engaged in the hybrid One Emerson Flex Learning model this semester, and eighteen percent are studying fully online. The Marlboro alliance was completed and 53 students transferred from Marlboro and 14 students came in as first-years to the Marlboro Institute. The Kasteel Well program was suspended for the fall, and there are 115 students enrolled online this semester at Emerson Los Angeles and living off-campus.

Pelton mentioned that some staff had taken advantage of the voluntary early retirement program and that they will be missed. He concluded his remarks by talking about what a post-COVID world might look like at Emerson: the College would have the opportunity to reimagine its use of space, continue to offer online teaching, and possibly increase the fluidity of academic departments. He explained that the word crisis comes from the Greek word krisis, which means “an opportunity for change.”

Next, Paul Dworkis (Administration and Finance) gave a high-level overview of FY20, FY21, and FY22. He said that the College is currently on solid ground, but it needs to remain cautious. FY20 ended with a slight surplus, even though the College had to pay for investments in online teaching modalities as well as COVID-related expenses including testing, de-densification of campus, PPE, and contact tracing.

For FY21, the College evaluated scenarios with losses ranging from $33 to 100 million; due to our efforts, many students were confident enough to return this semester, and, therefore, it is looking like the College will be closer to a $33 million loss in revenues and/or incremental pandemic-related expenses. We achieved 98 percent of our budgeted enrollment, with a majority of first-years, sophomores, and juniors deciding to return, along with nearly all of the seniors. Residency levels are down, however, as the College had to de-densify the residence halls and rent hotel rooms for students. And there was no residency at Kasteel Well or LA this fall.

Offsetting the losses, a wide range of cost-saving measures were taken, including reducing staff benefits, holding back on the hiring of new staff, and curbing departmental spending. Dworkis thanked staff for the cost-saving measures taken, which saved jobs—a primary focus of the College’s strategy.

He moved on to talk about the increase in medical costs this year. Health insurance premiums are increasing by nine percent, but there are no other changes to the health insurance plans. He invited Ann-Marie Driscoll (HR) to take the floor, and she reminded attendees that we are in week 2 of Open Enrollment and that the deadline to make changes to FSAs, HSAs, and choose a dental plan is November 18. Benefits information can be found on the HR website.

Dworkis expressed optimism for a strong winter session and a higher student enrollment and residency in the spring. As far as FY22 goes, time will tell if we have a normal rate of enrollment and residency. He also said that the annual tuition increase was reduced for this current academic year (to 2 percent), leading to a permanent reduction in our future revenue projections. The financial aid budget was not reduced in order to maximize enrollment, and the Marlboro alliance did not have an adverse effect on the budget.

He ended his presentation by sharing some results from the recent staff pulse survey. He reported that 90 percent of staff felt neutral or satisfied with the clarity of communications about COVID. Forty-eight percent felt neutral or dissatisfied about the information given about COVID’s impact on the College’s viability. Regarding the future of remote work, 89 percent were interested in some type of regular weekly remote work.

Caitlin DiMartino (HR) provided the results of the portion of the staff pulse survey focused on work experience. Ninety percent of staff reported that they know what is expected of them in their job, and eighty-one percent have one-on-one meetings with their managers. On the other hand, nearly 25 percent of employees expressed some level of doubt that they’re in a position to do what they do best every day. HR will be sending out a pulse report soon. DiMartino said she hopes that staff will continue to fill out these types of surveys as the information helps HR understand how to best partner with employees to help them achieve their goals.

Michaele Whelan (Academic Affairs) spoke next to give an update on spring semester plans. She began with a shout-out to ITG, Library, and academic department staff for their support of faculty and students this semester. She said that 224 students are enrolled for the online-only winter session, and Flex Learning and online learning will be continued in the spring semester. She said that the College is petitioning the Dutch government to allow Emerson students who are mostly American to study there; in the interim, Academic Affairs is working with Enrollment to plan to welcome first-year Chinese students to study at Kasteel Well in the spring. The College hopes that students will be able to continue Flex Learning at Emerson LA in the spring, but that will depend on LA County guidance, just as it did in the fall. A number of faculty are working to connect student cohorts at Paris College of Art, Franklin University Switzerland, and UIC in China with students and programs on the Boston campus to provide a sense of connection with Emerson majors and professions each semester.

Next, Erik Muurisepp (Campus Life) gave a COVID-19 update. He thanked everyone for their cooperation and said that community members have been taking about 3,300 COVID tests per week since the semester began. He said that the increased positivity rate in Boston is concerning and stressed the importance of continuing to adhere to all of the guidelines.

He mentioned that students who cannot leave campus at Thanksgiving will continue to be tested at Tufts. The contact tracing team on campus continues to meet weekly and help with the necessary reporting of positive cases. He said the plan for testing in the spring semester is being finalized and more information will be released in the coming weeks. He concluded by thanking everyone again for their help and for sharing feedback throughout the semester.

Shari Stier moderated the Q&A portion of the forum. The first question asked was for a clarification on how long staff salary increases and retirement contributions will be on hold, and Dworkis answered that staff should not expect salary increases prior to October 2021 and that retirement plan contributions will be suspended through July 2021. He hopes that these benefits can be reinstated for FY22. He was also asked about the requirement for staff to use vacation time for part of the winter break, since it was a soft cost. He responded that it was one of the least disruptive ways to mitigate costs this semester. HR and Payroll will be sharing information on how to submit the time off in Workday soon.

An attendee asked if the College had given any consideration to the increased costs that staff are incurring from working remotely, such as increased heating and electricity bills. Dworkis answered that it hasn’t been specifically addressed. He said it is a good idea to think about how to sustain remote work in the future and that these costs will be considered in future conversations.

Someone asked about details on COVID testing over the winter break and when the mandatory weekly testing starts for staff, and they were told that the answers will come soon; final approval is still to come from the Broad Institute.

Pelton wrapped up the forum by giving a shout-out to the staff union for making it a priority to save staff members’ jobs during this tumultuous year. He noted that many colleges have had to resort to layoffs/furloughs, but at Emerson, everyone has been pitching in. He shared appreciation for the sacrifices that staff are making, which shows a “commitment to each other and the common good.”

Nancy Howell (Communications and Marketing)